Lilly Singh
Lilly Singh (born September 26, 1988) is a Canadian YouTuber, comedian, television host and actress of Indian descent, widely known as IISuperwomanII. In 2017, she was ranked tenth on the Forbes list of the world's highest paid YouTube stars, earning a reported $10.5 million. Singh has featured in the annual YouTube Rewind every year since 2014. She was ranked first on the 2017 Forbes Top Influencers List in the entertainment category. Singh has received an MTV Fandom Award, four Streamy Awards, two Teen Choice Awards and a People's Choice Award. In 2016, Singh released her first feature film, titled A Trip to Unicorn Island. In March 2017, she released her first book, How to be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life, which became a New York Times best-seller. In 2019, she participated in Dance Ki Takkar. In March 2019, NBC announced that Singh would host a new late night talk show for the network, A Little Late with Lilly Singh, which will replace Last Call with Carson Daly. Singh will also serve as an executive producer on the series. Early and personal life Lilly Singh was born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario. Her parents, Malwinder Kaur and Sukhwinder Singh, are originally from Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India, and she was raised as a nonobservant Sikh. She has an older sister named Tina Singh (born 1982), who is also a YouTuber. As a child, Singh has said she was a tomboy. She attended Mary Shadd Public School during her elementary years, and in 2006, she graduated from Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute in Toronto. She was a member of Girl Guides of Canada and participated in their youth programs. In 2010, she graduated from York University in Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Singh developed a strong connection with her Punjabi heritage during visits to India. She struggled with depression, and began making YouTube videos as a way of dealing with her feelings. As a young adult, she lived with her parents in Markham, Ontario, and in December 2015, she moved to Los Angeles to further her career. In March of 2019, Singh came out as bisexual to the public via social media. Career YouTube In October 2010, Singh started a YouTube channel under the pseudonym "IISuperwomanII". She has explained that the name Superwoman was prompted by a childhood idea, making her believe she can do anything. Punjabi culture is frequently portrayed in her videos, which also contain satirical takes on everyday life and people's favorite complaints. Her most popular video is How Girls Get Ready and her most popular series features her fictional parents, Paramjeet and Manjeet, both played by Singh herself, reacting to trending and controversial videos. She also frequently collaborates with celebrities on her videos, including Dwayne Johnson, Selena Gomez, Seth Rogen, James Franco, Kunal Nayyar, Noah Schnapp, Priyanka Chopra, Shay Mitchell, Amber Rose, Steve Aoki, Caleb McLaughlin, Nargis Fakhri, and Madhuri Dixit. Her channel currently has over 14 million subscribers and 3 billion views. Vlog Channel In December 2011, Singh created a second channel called SuperwomanVlogs, where she chronicles her daily activities and includes behind the scenes footage from her videos. She used it as a second channel to upload videos until August 2014, when she began uploading daily vlogs. Singh has been uploading daily vlogs ever since. Music In August 2013, Singh featured alongside Jassi Sidhu in his Punjabi song Hipshaker. Singh rapped in the song Mauj Ki Malharein, which played in the Bollywood drama Gulaab Gang in August 2014. In July of the same year, she released a song titled #LEH in a collaboration with her friend, author and rapper Kanwer Singh, who is known by the pseudonym "Humble the Poet". She recorded and released another music video in February 2015 titled The Clean Up Anthem in collaboration with Canadian artist Sickick. In April 2015, Singh released a song about her hometown Toronto in collaboration with Humble the Poet titled #IVIVI (roman numerals for 416, Toronto's area code). On August 8, 2016, Singh released a visual music piece on YouTube, titled "Voices". The piece includes five songs portraying the "voices in her head". The piece has a genre of Pop/Modern Hip Hop. The songs included are a mix showing signs of boasting, fear of loneliness, lust, goofiness, and positive views promoting global peace. In 2018, Singh appeared in the music video for Maroon 5's "Girls Like You" featuring Cardi B. Acting Singh appeared as a background dancer in the movies Speedy Singhs and Thank You in 2011. In 2014, Singh appeared in a small role in the 2014 Indo-Canadian production Dr. Cabbie. In 2016, she voiced miniature unicorns named Bubbles and Misty in the animated film Ice Age: Collision Course and played a cameo role in the movie Bad Moms. She made an appearance in the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark as herself. She also had several of her own web series with I Love Makeup channel on YouTube, including Giving Back Glam, The Tube's Hautest, and Lana Steele: Makeup Spy. Singh was cast in HBO's film adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 after recording an audition outside an Internet cafe in Melbourne, Australia. She was in the region to promote her book and rushed the audition at her agent's urging around 2 a.m. in May 2017. She plays the character of Raven, "a tabloid blogger who works with the fire department to spread the ministry's propaganda by broadcasting their book-burning raids to fans." Live performances In March 2015, Singh began a world tour called "A Trip to Unicorn Island", adapting her YouTube content and including singing, dancing, music performances, comedy, and her parent characters. Her tour covered India, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom and the United States. She documented the tour in her first feature movie, A Trip to Unicorn Island, which also describes how YouTube fame is affecting her life. The movie was released on February 10, 2016 on YouTube Red. She describes the film as being very "raw and genuine". Her first book, How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life, was released on March 28, 2017. Television In March 2019, NBC announced that Singh would host a new late night talk show, A Little Late with Lilly Singh, which will succeed Last Call with Carson Daly following its series finale later in the year. Philanthropy In 2017, Lilly Singh was announced as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, to advocate for children's rights. She has led a campaign called "GirlLove", promoting girls to end girl-on-girl hate. With this, she created a "GirlLove" rafiki bracelet with the brand ME to WE, and has helped around a thousand of girls to gain education (including in Kenya and India). In July 2018, Lilly traveled to South Africa as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador to meet the students of elementary schools who are speaking against bullying and classroom violence. Accolades In 2014, her channel ranked at #39 on New Media Rockstars Top 100 Channels. The same year, she was nominated for a Shorty Award and a Streamy Award. In September 2015, People magazine included Singh on their annual "Ones to Watch" list. Lilly received her first MTV Fandom Award, was nominated for two Teen Choice Awards, and won her first Streamy Award later that year. In October 2016, she ranked 8th on Forbes list of World's Top-Earning YouTube Stars of 2015. She was also featured in Fast Company Magazine as the 100 Most Creative People in Business. Variety magazine recognized her as one of their 10 Comics to Watch for 2016, and she was honored at the Just For Laughs Film Festival in Montreal. In July 2016, she won two Teen Choice Awards from her three nominations. In January 2017, she won a People's Choice Award for Favorite YouTube Star. In September 2017, Singh won her fourth Streamy Award. In November 2017, Lilly Singh was also chosen as an ambassador for Pantene shampoo and partnered with Calvin Klein. Filmography Film Television Web Music videos Awards and nominations References External links * * * IISuperwomanII Channel Website Category:1988 births Category:Living people Category:Actresses from Toronto Category:Canadian comedians Category:Canadian Internet celebrities Category:Canadian actresses of Indian descent Category:Canadian people of Punjabi descent Category:Canadian people of Indian descent Category:People from Scarborough, Toronto Category:Video bloggers Category:Women video bloggers Category:Canadian YouTubers Category:York University alumni Category:Canadian Sikhs Category:Streamy Award winners Category:YouTube Diamond Play Button recipients Category:Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States Category:Female YouTubers Category:Women bloggers Category:Bisexual women Category:Bisexual actresses Category:LGBT YouTubers Category:Indian YouTubers Category:LGBT entertainers from Canada Category:Canadian expatriates in the United States Category:Bigg Boss contestants Category:Dance Ki Takkar contestants